Escape

Want to escape to a tropical paradise? I was just waiting (six months!) for some more wintry weather back home to write this post. My odds are woefully good this winter, aren't they? Enjoy Maldives.

2010 will be difficult to top as a year of travels and adventures of Lisa and Paul. Some time last year, maybe around May or June, Paul said he was thinking of arranging a surprise trip for us. At first it didn't come together but then he did succeed, and the destination was to be a surprise to me. I am our full time travel agent so this was quite a twist. All my girlfriends were envious of the gesture itself as well as rabidly curious. They asked me what my best guesses were. They suggested I check credit card statements, online browsing history... really! Why would I do that? I loved not knowing. How many surprises do you get in life - good ones? I sat back and relished the anticipation for weeks.

And the man can keep a secret. When I showed him a friend's online photos of Maldives, maybe even as the idea was still budding, he threw me off the trail with, "It doesn't look so special." Then he wouldn't tell me how long the flight was for fear that flight time was a giveaway. All I wanted to know was what to pack and all I was told was beach stuff. The secret was not revealed until we checked our luggage at the airport and the agent said, "What's your destination?" Even then, Paul seemed reluctant to reveal it. The mystery had ended and the escape was to begin.

One fantastic benefit of living in Singapore is direct flights to places that often involve flight connections from anywhere else. On Wednesday night, we took a 4.5 hour flight to Male (pronounced mah-lay) where we were met by a representative of the resort who walked us to our waiting boat. The boats were lined up like taxis next to the airport. The boat ride was 45 minutes to an island in the South Male Atoll. FYI, Maldives has a dizzying number of islands, some that require a second flight from Male to reach. Maldives time is three hours behind Singapore so we arrived about 11 p.m. which was 2 a.m. to us.

There are certain images that, once seen, live on in the mind's eye. I don't have a photograph, and I may not have precise words, but arriving on the island of Velighandu Huraa at night is one of those images. At first sight, I felt as if I may have arrived in another world. The water below us at the arrival jetty appeared black and nearly motionless in the night. As we approached shore the white sand radiated a glow that the concentrated darkness could not dim. It was the first of many instances in the next several days that I would ask myself, is this real?

We walked the sandy path to our beach house and were welcomed with tropical smoothies and home made chocolate chip cookies. We were offered cooked food also but we were more tired than hungry. We surveyed the house and what little we could see of its surroundings in the dark and then promptly fell asleep, even too tired for a cookie.

We awoke early on the morning of our 9th wedding anniversary to the sound of birds, many many birds, most of them bold insistent crows. Don't know who let them into paradise. Then we got our first good look around in daylight. The house, #19, was lovely: a grand weathered wood door concealed an inner path of stepping stones to the front entrance. Inside the house was a spacious entryway and wardrobe area leading to the the airy, high-ceiling bedroom, enclosed by windowed walls on two sides. The room opened onto the back patio straight ahead and the private pool on the left. We could open everything up and still enjoy privacy inside and out as the entire property was walled and landscaped for just that. The bath "room" could be reached from a path alongside the pool or through the inside hallway. Paving stones led to the outdoor shower which looked down the length of the pool. There were plush spots all around for lounging outside and the tropical yet sophisticated decor exuded relaxation. In short, it was spectacular.

But one thing can outdo a spectacular house, and that is an idyllic beach just steps from it. I had no idea when we arrived so late the previous night that the ocean was a stone's throw out our back gate. There were only 19 houses on the island, six beach houses like ours and the rest were poised over the ocean. Everyone asks, "Did you stay in one of those houses over the water?" but Paul thought it would be hard to beat our water cottage experience in Borneo with giant sea turtles swimming under our feet, so we didn't this time. We walked past the other five beach houses and realized that we lucked out with the most private one; parts of the other houses were visible from the beach but ours wasn't.

Three islands made up the resort complex. Ours, Naladhu, was the smallest and most exclusive. We had access to all three islands but only Naladhu guests could access ours. There was a gated footbridge leading from Naladhu to the small island, Veli. The third and largest island, Dhigu, was reached by speedboat which was available on request. I think we test drove every hammock on each island, including one propped in the ocean that Paul swam out to. I confess that when we eventually explored the other two islands we felt slightly snobby because they were much more crowded and the pools were nice, but they weren't... private nice. There was a mix of tourists, many Russian. Our own island's small number of houses were hardly occupied so even our beach felt somewhat private.

With our first trip to "The Living Room," our island restaurant, the serious (over)indulgence began. I ordered some eggs and the bread basket and wasn't sure if they understood my order as a stunning bounty of assorted fresh breads and pastries appeared before us. The bread basket instantly became our morning routine for five days (I'm still working off the croissants). There we also met our House Master, Hassan. His job was to arrange for anything we asked for, as if we could ask for more. Here we didn't have as much luck. Hassan was perfectly polite but awkwardly quiet and not all that helpful even with simple questions. Another staff member who was always at the Living Room, Chili, was much more personable.

Oh yes, the crows had their eyes on the bread basket too. We watched them watching us and they looked frighteningly intelligent as one was moving a chair cushion nearby to get a better perch position.

We soon discovered the equally prolific yet much more endearing of the island's wild residents: hermit crabs. They were everywhere and they are adorable. The sand was animated with countless critters - until you approached. We never tired of walking along, saying, "Look a hermit crab! Oh no, it's just a shell," as they tucked tight into their houses. We also discovered, much to their angst I'm sure, that when you hold one up at a height of 2-3 feet from the ground they poke themselves out of the shell again. Don't know why. But it was fun.

There were island tours and day trips on offer, but ours was not the sort of place you'd have any reason to leave. The friendly resort manager told us that we could borrow kayaks next to the dive center at Dhigu and paddle out to a tiny island and snorkel around it, so that's what we did. The snorkeling was excellent. We saw lots of fish around that small island, but we discovered that the sights were even better right out our own backyard. We took full advantage of snorkeling right from the beach and spent much time checking out the scenes just below the surface. There were so many kinds of fish so close to shore. We also did one dive a day on two different days. They were average but not that memorable. We may have had more fun snorkeling. It's certainly cheaper (i.e. free).

Through our five day stay we sampled a variety of the islands' restaurants including Italian (which wasn't really), market style seafood, international and Thai. The Thai food was very good but it earned our favorite status for other reasons. The restaurant was scenically set over the water halfway between Naladhu and Veli. Soon after we had ordered dinner from the gracious wait staff - who crafted palm fronds into animals for us - my hand brushed my earring, a silver hoop, and it fell out. Before I could even look down, it fell past my lap, directly through a seam in the floorboards and into the water below. I could never have aimed so precisely - what an unlucky stroke of coordination. I looked around on the floor to make sure it was in fact gone and our waitress came over and asked if I lost something. She helped look for a minute and I told her my earring fell into the water. She left and I resigned myself to the loss when a moment later a waiter appeared with a ladder and a flashlight. I thought no way... and then he was over the side, pants rolled up, searching for the silver hoop. As if this wasn't gallant enough, he found it! Now that's service. I'm glad it was low tide; it would have been even more embarrassing if the SCUBA gear came out.

I may as well mention here that throughout Asia, they seem to love the soft rock hits of the seventies and eighties a la the old "106.7 Lite FM." And if it's not an original Air Supply song that's playing, someone somewhere has covered the song in this "lite" style, however inappropriate. There is an endless supply of mellow jazzy singers cooing songs by Depeche Mode, Madonna, Nine Inch Nails - it's mind boggling - and not far from Bill Murray's SNL lounge singer skit. While absorbing such a rendition while eating dinner on our anniversary, I cracked myself up by improvising a rather crass AC/DC song sung in a tone that could put a baby to sleep. I had myself laughing for days.

Our last night, the wonderful staff arranged flowers on our bed while we were at dinner. We were scheduled to leave Sunday but not until the evening so we had one last lazy day at the beach, snorkeling and relaxing as the weather held out. By the afternoon it was raining so we missed out on a final sunset at the Living Room where the staff prepared a cozy candle lit table for our farewell dinner.

Chili accompanied us on the boat back to Male. It was a local holiday so Hassan had the day off, not that his absence was too noticeable, and Chili was going back to Male to spend the holiday with his family. When we were going through airport security, Paul realized he forgot our house key in his pocket and had to run out and return it. Wishful thinking, maybe.

And that was our escape to Maldives: pure relaxation. From the lavish house and pool to the impeccable service and the pristine beach, we were truly spoiled with luxury. Our house was stocked with books, iPod and a TV and we were so thankfully at peace that we didn't turn the TV on in all five days. It was like taking a deep breath.

Thanks, Paul, my love. Six months from now is our tenth anniversary... I'm looking forward to seeing how you'll top this.